Fruit-slicing machine.



F. J. 011mm. FRUIT SLIGING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED 00T.14, 1913.

Patented June 30, 1914,

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

1N VENTOR u n n D n o c o o o n n o uwuvuvan u o oocb WITNESSES:

F. J. GUNHA. FRUIT SLIGING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 001214, 1913. 1,1 02,01 1. Patented June 3o, 1914 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

115m" WITNESSES: ,g "-m' INVENTOR MM QW@ G5, WW. Y

' stones.

cation.-

a slicing machine vwhich will also sever and i cup according to remove stems and l.eyes

`ing-shaft for operating the machine.

.parts rand the construction and combination and claimed, havin-g reference to the accomcross section at the UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE. I

FRANK J. CUNH'A, OF HAYWARD, CALIFORNIA.v

FRUIT-SLICING MACHINE.

1,102,011. i Sne'ci'iication 0f Let'rs Patent Patented June 30, 1914.

Application led October 14, 1913. Serial No. 795,072.

To all whom it may concern v Be -it knownthat I, FRANKJ. CUNHA, a g citizen of the United States, residing ati Hayward, in the county of Alameda and g State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in IFruit-Slicing Machines, 'of which 'the following is a specifirIhis inventionfrelates to a machine for l slicing, or severing, and removing stems i and eyes from fruit or7 vegetables without ject below the bottom open ends of the in Y V verted cone sections, while the upper pors The object of -this invention is to provide l tions of the pears a will vary-in level inthe the size of the pear.v I An operator places 'a pear in a cup while or other fruit or vegetables having no the conveyer is moving, stones. f forward between opposed yieldable devices,

tIt is a further-object to .provide-a machine the upper one consisting of apresser plate with automatically adjusting means to op- 15 extend'ng across the conveyer andv pressed erate on '-fruit, vas pears of diii'erentvsize, down by a yieldable resistance shown as with means for taking off the stems and p springs 16, the plate having vertical Inovemaking a cut of arbitrarilyffixed depth toI nient on guides v17 on the frame. On the remove the blossom, pit er eye.

a presser plate is a gouge 18, projecting down The invention includes a moving conveyer through a slot 19 in the plate, a distance with divided .pockets for fruit to be cut, with means for destemming the fruit and means for removing 'the eye, and a cutter for severing the fruit, and including 'a drivfrom pears, apples,

standing in the passageway 13 and being straddled by the cup sections 14. vAs a pear traverses the gouge this will remove the eye at the blossom end, the cutting rising further consists of ythe to the top of theplate 15.

The invention of parts as hereinafter more-fully described the conveyer, is a swinging, hollow, rotary cutterhead 20, mounted loosely .on an axle 21 and having transverse circumferentially spaced blades 22 which revolve in juxtapo- .si-tion to the bottoms-of vthe cups 14 and snip od the stems ofthe pears therein. The cut- :ter 20 has spaced side disks between which is secured on the shaft a strip-per 23, just cleared by the revolving blades 22, from which stems are removed; .another fixed stripper 24 overhang-ing the outer portions of the cutter and rbeing secured to axle 21. The axle 21 is journaled in a hanger 25, loosely pivoted on a shaft 26 in the frame l2, and the aft26 is a sprocket wheel driving chain 28, driving sprocket 29 of the cutter 20. vHanger 25 is provided with a counterweight C to lift the cutter toward the pear stem. In operation these `opposed yieldable members 16 and 25 will coperate to embrace a .pear between its ends,I the upper plate rising when lifted by a large pear passing lelow in ga lcup, the pressure of the plate panying drawings, in `which, l Q

Figure 1 lis a vertical section on the .line

Fig. 2 isaplan view. Fig.y 3 is a detail of a conveyer Slat. \Fi g. 4 is a line yay, Fig. 1.- Fig. 5 is a detail of the stem cutter.l Fig. Gis a side view of the stemlgiiide' and cutter, Fig. 7 is a 4iplan view ofthe saine. -Fig. 8 is a viewof -a modified slicing wheel. `Fig. 9 is a view of a modified gouge. In the drawings 2 representsa- .suitable form of frame,` in which is journaled acrank or driving shaft 3, drivingasproc'lret1 chain 4 and its sprocket on a counter-y shaft 6. The counter-shaft 6 'car-ries spaced sprockets 7, each driving parallel belts or" chains 8, turning at the opposite end of the frame on idlers 9 on a shaft 10. The sprocket `chains are slatted with plates l1-, with down-turned ends 12 between which is :formeda passageway 113, the slats and chains cooperating to form "a oor'ed *con-f small ends of pears, for instance, will pro which may be varied arbitrarily, the gouge pposed to Athepresser plate and below and it is carried l end, said stem and ing rrmt the receptacdes,

holding the pear rmly While the rotary cutter snips od the stem. rlhe hanger 25 1s provided With upper guide Walls converging toward the cutter 23, so that the stems Will be positively directed toward it.l

From the foregoing it Will be seen that the gouge can cut only a predetermined depth because it is lifted by the presser plate 1:3 as the pear passes below, carried 1n the spaced conical sections of the cups. After the pear passes the cutters 18A and 2O it is carried against a rotary disk Slicer 30, located in the passageway 13, .and of such diameter as to entirely sever the fruit' in the cups, the sections of which are spaced suiiiciently to straddle the disk 30. The disk 30 is secured upon a shaft 31, journaled 1n the frame 2 below the upper plane of the conveyer, and geared at 32 to the counter-shaft 6. While the gouge 18 is shown in Fig. `l as an embossed plate, in Fig. 9 a modified form is shown as comprising aI chisel. ln Flg. 8 is shown a toothed slicing vvheel 30.

Having thus described my invention what i claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: l

i. A machine having a traveling conveyer with receptacles for 'fruit to be sev ered, means for severing the fruit While in the receptacles, yand means for removing the stems, said severing and stem removing means being relatively sides of the conveyer.

2. A machine having a conveyer with receptacle for fruit to be severed, means for severing the fruit While in the receptacles, means for removing the stems, and gouging means for removing the eyes at the blossom gouging means being relatively disposed on opposite sides of the conveyer,

3. A- machinehaving a conveyer vvith receptacles for fruit to be severed, means for severing the fruit While in the receptacles, means for removingz'the stems disposed belovv the conveyor, and gouging lmeans `tor removing the eyes at the blossom end disposed above the conveyer, said last-named -means cooperating to embrace the fruit; d. A machine having a conveyer with receptacles for vfruit to be severed, means adj a- 'cent said conveyer tor severing the fruit in the receptacles, means above said conveyor tor removing' the stems While in said rece tacles, gouging means for removing the eyes atthe blossom end, said last-named means cooperating to embrace the fruit, and yieldable pressure devices acting upon the'gouging means.

in a iiruit Slicer, a conveyer comprising a pair oi spaced stat-beltswith plates coperating to form receptacles9 a rotary cutter operating through the receptaclesr to sever trait therein, and a pressure device for holdp device havdisposed on opposite nioaoii ing a gouge for removing the eye of the blossom end.

6. ln a fruit slicer, a conveyer comprising a pair of spaced Slat-belts with plates cooperating to form receptacles, a rotary cutter operating through the receptacles to sever fruit therein, a pressure device for holding fruit in the receptacles, said device having a gouge for removing the eye of the blossom end, and a yieldable cutter for removing the stem.

7. ln a fruit Slicer, a conveyer comprising a pair of spaced Slat-belts with plates coperating to form receptacles, a rotary cutter operating through the receptacles to sever fruit therein, a pressure device for holding' fruit in the receptacles, said device having a gouge for removing the eye of the biossom end, and a yieldable cutter 'for removing the stem, said device and cutter being super posed.

8. ln a fruit Slicer, a conveyer comprising a pair of spaced Slat-belts with plates coperating to form receptacles, a rotary cutter operating through the receptacles to sever fruit therein, a pressure device for holding fruit in the receptacles, said device having a gouge for removing the eye of the blossom end, a yieldable cutter for removing the stem, said device and cutter being super-y posed, and a guide or directing the stems toward the cutter.

9. in combination with fruit holding means, eye removing means above said holding means, stemming means belovv said holding means and means to e'ect relative movement betweenr the holding means and the eye removing and stemming means.

l0. in combination with a traveling fruit holding means, eye removing means located above said holding mea-ns so as to be engaged by the fruit during the movement thereof, and means to resiliently mount said means vvhereby'the eye removing means will gouge the fruit to, a predetermined depth regardless of the size of the fruit.

ll. inv combination With a traveling fruit holding means, a stemming means consisting of a pivoted member arranged belovv said holding means and having means to guide the stem ofthe fruit into position for cutting, and` cutting means cooperating with said member. l

12. in combination with a traveling fruit hoiding means, a stemming means consisting or a pivoted member arranged belovv said holding means andhaving means to guide the stem ci the :fruit into position for cutting, and 'a rotatable cutter carried by lthe member and cooperating *with the latter.

' combination with traveiing fruit titi liel

holding means, yieldable eye removing means located above said holding means, and yield i' l n ated beiovv saidy each v located above the holding means., Stemming .means-below the holding means, and means to effect relative movement between the holding means andthe eye and stemming means. l0

Jl5. ln combination with fruit holding means, yieldable stemming means coperating therewith and movable by engagement with the fruit away from the holding means, and-means to effect relative movement between both of said means. y

16. In combination with fruit holding means, a pivoted stemming mechanism movable on its pivot byl 'engagement with the fruitaway from bodyingl a rotatable cutter, and meansl to eeet.; relative movement between said mechanisnrand means. 1

.In .testimony whereof l have hereunto Vset myv hand in the presence of two subscribingwitnesses.. l

y l FRANK J. CUNHA.

VVitnesses: I l H. R. ROBINSON,

- E. WELSH.

the holding means and emv 

